CHILLICOTHE -- Southern Ohio farmers told U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown they'd like more support for small, family farms during a listening tour Friday at the Hirsch Fruit Farm.

Brown is visiting locations throughout the state to get farmers' input as the Senate considers the 2012 Farm Bill.

"The whole idea is for you to tell me what you're doing and how we can help," Brown told the farmers who gathered around a makeshift table in an apple storage unit at the farm on Ohio 772 ,just south of Chillicothe.

"There's going to be budget cuts, and the (farm) bill is going to take some of that," he told the farmers, adding his priorities would be to secure a safety net for failed crops and increase the development of rural farmland.

Tony Anderson, a Fayette County soybean farmer, said he wasn't able to finish getting his crops in the ground until July 1. He said he's about a month behind schedule because of the wet spring season.

"That crop insurance is so important to someone like me, especially this year," he said.

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